Tracy Baxter Reports: Young dog-attack victim hopes for NY law change

If you saw the pictures, they would have stuck with you. Five-year-old Frankie Flora was big news here in the Hudson Valley back in 2009 — only not in a good way.

Tracy Baxter

If you saw the pictures, they would have stuck with you. Five-year-old Frankie Flora was big news here in the Hudson Valley back in 2009 — only not in a good way.

The Town of Poughkeepsie boy had been viciously mauled by a pit bull, and his ravaged face stared back at us from a variety of media outlets. Five years later, Frankie and his widowed mom, Maria, are hoping to make a different kind of news.

More than 1,000 stitches were needed to sew up the deep lacerations in Frankie's face, head and hand. Three surgeons worked on him for nearly eight hours. His right cheek was missing. Parts of Frankie's scalp were stripped to the bone. The attending physician told Maria they did the best they could. Twenty-five cosmetic surgeries were required to deal with all the scarring — leftover reminders from an unprovoked attack.

Frankie became a pint-sized celebrity. The Children's Miracle Network, a not-for-profit organization that raises money for children's hospitals, chose him to serve as one of their ambassadors. He'd get to meet President Obama and tour the White House.

All the while, people pitched in to help Maria fight a battle with astronomical medical bills. A fund was created to raise money that went toward the cost of all the long-term reconstructive and scar-repairing cosmetic surgeries that insurance didn't cover.

What didn't help was the discovery that New York is considered a "one bite" state.

Under existing state law, owners only get a warning and are not held financially responsible when their dog first bites someone. It takes a second biting incident to make the owner liable.

Passage of the Frankie Flora bill would change that.

The bill with Frankie's name on it would hold dog owners automatically liable the first time their dog bites somebody.

Supporters are quick to point out that the legislation isn't breed-specific and doesn't single out pit bulls. A "first bite" law would cover all types of dogs and their owners.

Nearly five million people are bitten by dogs each year according to the American Humane Association, and half of the victims are kids under 12. Around 800,000 of those attacks require medical care.